Converging Methodologies in a Mammalian Simple System Focused on the Biology of Memory: Conditioned Odor Preference in the Neonate Rat

We present here a critical period model for odor preference learning in the rat pup, which can produce short-term or lifelong changes in odor-related behaviors depending on training parameters. Features which make it a powerful tool for the analysis of memory processes are described. The chapter outlines four behavioral protocols and then provides an overview of a range of methodologies, primarily physiological, which we have used to probe the circuit changes produced by training. Each of these approaches offers different strengths for an experimental dissection of how the olfactory bulb, or any neural structure, is changed by learning. The direction they provide both supports and modifies popular hypotheses in the biology of memory.